Isaac grows old and his eyes dim. He expresses his desire to bless his beloved and eldest son Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father's favorite food, Rebecca &ndash; his wife &ndash; dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Jacob to his father with the food. Isaac suspects that something is amiss and insists on feeling his son. He concludes that the &lsquo;voice is the voice of Jacob, and the hands are the hands of Esau.&rsquo; Isaac also mentions that the smell of Jacob&rsquo;s garments are like the smell of &lsquo;the field that G-d has blessed.&rsquo; Isaac then blesses Jacob with &lsquo;the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land&rsquo; and mastery over his brother.'
The questions cannot be ignored: If Rebecca had a good reason as to why Esau was undeserving of his father's blessings, why couldn't she communicate directly to Isaac? Why couldn't Rebecca ""follow"" the glorious old tradition of Jewish wives who commonly explain to their husbands how wrong they are?
Indeed, Rebecca had a good argument against granting the blessings to Esau, one that Isaac would certainly understand. Jacob is ""a wholesome man, a dweller of the tents of study,"" whereas Esau is described as a ""skilled hunter, a man of the field."" Jacob's descendants became the nation of Israel, who granted the world the vision of ethical monotheism, while Esau fathered Roman civilization with its culture of ruthless power and great material achievement. Couldn&rsquo;t she explain this to Isaac?"
Also, what was the uniqueness of the smell of Jacob&rsquo;s garments? Goatskins actually have a terrible stench! The Talmud tells us that Isaac did not smell &lsquo;Jacob&rsquo;s garments&rsquo; (begadav) rather he smelled &lsquo;Jacob&rsquo;s traitors&rsquo; (bogdav). And this is the fragrance he so enjoyed. This, too, is deeply disturbing. What is so pleasant about the &ldquo;aroma of traitors?&rdquo; And why would they inspire Isaac to bless their grandfather Jacob?
The great souls and spiritual giants that would emerge from Jacob&rsquo;s seed throughout history did not suffice to entice Isaac to confer the blessings upon the wearer of the garments; it was only the traitors that moved him so deeply. Why?" "A penetrating insight by Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter of Ger (1799-1866) reveals the depth of Rebecca&rsquo;s wisdom and foresight. Rebecca was seeking a blessing not for Jacob himself, but for Jacob as he was dressed in Esau&rsquo;s garments. Rebecca knew of the state of many a Jew today: A Jacob who presents himself to the world as an Esau. It was Isaac&rsquo;s blessings to even this type of &lsquo;betrayer&rsquo; that has made the Jewish identity so deep and unshakeable in even the most distant and self-hating Jew. The incredible Midrashic stories of Yosef Meshisa illustrate this point unforgettably.

Why Did Rebecca Dress Jacob in Esau's Clothes? Because She Was Thinking About the Jew Who Would Say Goodbye to the Shtetl

Class Toldos

The Story of the Modern Jew

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 6 Shvat, 5784, January 16, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The Double Dip of Jewish History, and the Infamous Blood Libels

Women's Pesach/Bo Class

The Night Before Redemption, We Needed to Confront One Final Demon

A Rockland Jewish Community Gathering in honor of the Shloshim of Pittsburgh massacre on Wednesday evening, 20 Kislev, 5779, November&nbsp;28, 2018, &nbsp;at the Jewish Community Campus 450 West Nyack RD, West Nyack, NY&nbsp;

What Antisemitism Teaches Us About Jews and Judaism

Gathering For Shloshim of Pittsburgh Massacre

Night of Light -- Shloshim for Pittsburgh Slain Jews

Short Gems

The Connection Between Jews

YY Moment

The Chicken or the Egg?

&quot;We Are All One&quot; The message given by&nbsp;Rabbi YY Jacobson at the 2nd Hatzalah-thon, on Lag Ba&#39;omer 5781, shortly after the Miron tragedy.

When the Zviller Rebbe Offered to Write on Shabbos 

Meron Tragedy -- Lag Ba'omer 5781 Hatzalah-Thon

We Are All One

Two Ways of Dealing With the New World -- Nostalgia and Transformation. Jewish history is about sharing the story of our past with our children, but what do you do when your children don&#39;t relate to the story?

Jewish history is about sharing the story of our past with our children, but what do you do when your children don't relate to the story?

Class Vayechi

Two Ways of Dealing With the New World -- Nostalgia and Transformation

Lecture at the annual dinner of Toras Emes day school in Los Angeles, California, presented on 19 Shevat 5775, February 8, 2015.

Tying the Knot of a Jewish soul

Toras Emes Banquet Lecture: The Eternity of Torah

The Jewish Future - Rebuilding. A live Broadcast by Rabbi YY Jacobson

How Reb Yochanan ben Zakai Defeated Rome 

Tisha B'av 5777 Lecture 

The Titanic and the Secret of Jewish Eternity 

Three men, a Frenchman, an Italian, and a Jew, were condemned to be executed. Their captors told them that they had the right to have a final meal before the execution. They asked the Frenchman what he wanted.

“Give me some good French wine and French bread,” he requested. So they gave it to him, he ate it, and then they executed him.

Next it was the Italian’s turn. Give me a big plate of pasta,” said the Italian. So they brought it to him, he ate it, and then they executed him.

Now it was the Jew’s turn. “I want a big bowl of strawberries, ” said the Jew.

“Strawberries!!! They aren’t even in season!”

“So, I’ll wait…

In MetLife

Yesterday, January 1, 2020, I attended a gathering of 90,000 fellow Jews, at MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey. They all united to celebrate the completion of a seven-year cycle of studying the 2,711 pages of the Talmud.&nbsp;

At the mass event I noticed Jews, men and women, of all ages. But my heart swelled with tears and pride as I noticed one Jew, close to 100, an Auschwitz survivor, who attended the celebration together with four generations of decedents. I noticed some other twenty Holocaust survivors dancing together in MetLife.

And I recalled a story recorded in the Talmud,<a href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ednref1" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a> the one about the execution of Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon.,

Rabbi Chanina was a sage of the Mishna who lived in Sachnin in the Galilee during the second century CE, during the reign of Adrian who wished to decimate Judaism. In open defiance of the Roman edict, Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon publicly taught Torah. The Romans caught him and sentenced him to be burned, his wife to be killed, and his daughter to be subjected to the life of a prostitute.

The Talmud related how he was executed. The venerable sage was wrapped in a Torah scroll—perhaps the very scroll that he had held in open violation of the Roman edict—and surrounded with bundles of vine branches. Lighting the pyre was not enough for the Romans; the sage's demise was to be slow and painful: Clumps of wool were brought, soaked in water and placed over the heart of Rabbi Chanina. His daughter—herself sentenced by the Romans to a life of disrepute—cried: "Father, must I see you thus?"

With tremendous courage, Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon calmed his daughter: "If I alone was being burned it would be difficult for me. Now that I am being burned and the Torah scroll is with me—He who will seek a reckoning for the insult to the Torah scroll will seek a reckoning for my insult."

As their teacher was nearing his end, the students sought to garner a final lesson: "Master, what do you see?" As the flames scorched his holy body, Rabbi Chanina shared a lasting image:

"The parchment is burning, but the letters are taking flight!"

Seeing their master's pain, the disciples urged: "You too—like the Torah whose physical shell is being destroyed—open your mouth and the fire will enter you, and your soul will ascend with the letters." But the sage refused. "It is better that He who gave the soul should take it back, rather than a person inflicts harm on himself."

The Roman executioner, seeing Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon's sacred majesty, turned to the sage: "My master, if I increase the flame and remove the clumps of wet wool from over your heart in order to end your suffering, will you bring me to the life of the world-to-come?"

"Yes."

"Swear to me."

The sage complied and the executioner immediately increased the fire and Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon's soul departed. Without waiting, the Roman executioner jumped into the flames and a Heavenly voice resounded: "Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon and the executioner are prepared for the world-to-come."

The Image

The sage is burning, together with the Torah scroll in which he is wrapped. And when his students ask him what he sees, he responds: "The parchment is burning, but the letters are taking flight!"

I will dare to ask: How absurd was the question of his students. What were they thinking? Here their Rebbe is burning alive, what types of question was this: “What do you see?” What is he supposed to be seeing during such savage suffering?<a href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ednref2" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>

And what is the meaning of this response about the parchment burning and the holy letters soaring? What was he trying to convey to them?

What of the Future?

Perhaps, the students of the holy sage stood and watched the demise of both their Rebbe and their Torah, being destroyed together. At such a moment, they asked one question: Rebbe! What do you see? “Mah Atah Roeh?” This exact term is found in Jeremiah chapter one, where G-d asks the prophet “What do you see?” referring to a prophecy about the future, and a future of destruction.

The students were asking Rabbi Chaninah “What do you see” to constitute our future? With you—the preeminent sage of Israel—and the Torah going up in flames, what does the future hold for our people and faith? Where are we to invest our “stocks?” In the portfolio of Torah, seemingly meeting its doom, or in the portfolio of Rome seemingly on top of the world? Tell us, dear Rebbe, “what do you see?”

They, of course, remembered the first vision of G-d to Moses. How did Moses encounter the presence of G-d for the first time? In a burning bush. “And he saw that the bush is aflame but it is not being consumed.” The meaning of that vision, as the Midrash explains, is that the Jewish people will burn but they will never be consumed. But how will this happen? Wondered the students of Rabbi Chaninah, as they watched their master and the Torah being consumed by a raging blaze of hate! The burning bush was not being consumed, but the Sage and the Torah scroll were going up in the flames.

Rabbi Chaninah’s response remains one of the most powerful and moving messages that has defined and sustained our people: "I see the parchment is burning, but the letters are taking flight!"

The Torah consists of two parts: the parchment and the letters; the body and the soul; the physical matter and the ideas, the spirit, the message. The people too consist of two dimensions: the physical reality and the inner soul. The parchments of Torah, as well as the “parchments” of the Jewish people may be subjected to destruction and annihilation, but the letters of Torah—and the letters of the human spirit—are soaring. They never die. They endure, and they are transplanted into new places and new times.

After Auschwitz 

Seventy-five years ago, our parents and grandparents watched the parchments of 6,000,000 go up in flames. From 1933 till 1945 the Germans burnt 100 million Jewish books as well. They were determined to destroy every last fragment of Jewish parchment.

I am still amazed every day how that generation managed to rebuild life from ashes. How? Somehow, they gazed at the burnt parchment, and they said to themselves: The letters have soared! Their spiritual essence, their message, their values, dreams, loves, passions and traditions will continue to live in us.

As the flames engulfed his body, Rabbi Chanina ben Tradyon saw the letters “porchot,” a Hebrew term that means not only soaring, but also blossoming, blooming, flowering and flourishing. While the parchment burned, the letters of our Tradition had already taken flight, like a seed box carrying the kernel that will grow into a new tree. This is the eternal charm of the letters of our Heritage: Out of the ashes they rise; and borne by the winds of history, they are supplanted in new fertile ground where they can once again take root and thrive.

Our generation took to heart Rabbi Chaninah’s words: The letters took flight… and they landed in the yeshivas, in the shuls, in the homes, and in the hearts and souls and communities of Jews in Jerusalem, New York, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Moscow, Brazil, London, Chicago, Toronto, and Johannesburg. Wherever there are Jews, those words continue to stir, to arouse, to inspire and to resonate.

Yesterday, I observed the miracle of the letters transplanted on the soil of the Unites States blossoming. Tens of thousands of Jews celebrated their completion of hundreds of millions letters of the sacred text of the Talmud—the letters, words and ideas which have sustained our people for four millennia and continue to give us courage, meaning and the dignity of purpose.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" name="_edn1" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Talmud Avoda Zara 17b; 18a.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" name="_edn2" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Tosefos to Avoda Zara 18a asks the question and offers two answers.

Parchment Burning, Letters Soaring

Siyum Hashas

Dancing with 90,000 Jews

Chanukah 5781 -- a Video a Day: Day 2

The Secret of the California Redwoods & Jewish Resilience

Chanukah 5781 -- a Video a Day

Day #2: The Sequoias Can Explain Jewish History

Christianity explained

Keynote address by Rabbi YY Jacobson, at the Seed&nbsp;dinner in Manchester, Monday, 11 Adar, 5778, February 26, 2018. Seed, under the leadership of Rabbi Joey and Shaya Greenfeld, is dedicated to the education of Jewish families in Great Britain, and the theme of the dinner was &quot;Generation to Generation: Inspired by Our Children.&quot;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

A Nation that Focuses on Children Remains Young

The Secret of Jewish eternity

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